The Puro JuniorJams have been discontinued in the US, so we’ve moved them to our table in the Competition section.

Your guides

Lauren Dragan

Brent Butterworth

If you have a kid in your life who needs a pair of headphones, the Puro BT2200 is the best option to protect growing ears. After putting in around 80 hours of research—including speaking to experts at the WHO, CDC, and NIDCD, seriously considering more than 50 models of kids headphones, and testing and measuring the top 37 contenders for 63 hours across several days—we’re confident that the Puro BT2200 is the best choice. The Puro headphones not only met our volume-limiting test standards but also were the only pair liked by both the toddlers and the big kids who helped us test. They support Bluetooth (which can provide more effective volume limiting than traditional headphone tech), but they also work corded (so you can use them with lots of devices), and they sound good enough for adults to use, too.

Despite claims that kids headphones limit volume to 85 decibels (the level the World Health Organization considers “safer”), up to one-third of the kids headphones we tested exceeded that level when measured with pink noise, allowing higher volumes—sometimes much higher. When we went further with our testing, we found that even more of these headphones—nearly half—could be pushed past the recommended 85 dB when measured with actual music. Additionally, many of the headphones we tested had design flaws that could allow a child to bypass their volume-reduction features easily. You can read about all of our testing methods in detail below. In fact, based on our findings, The New York Times (parent company of Wirecutter) conducted its own investigation into kids headphones, regulations, and safety.

Upon finishing our analysis, we found several headphone models that we felt confident recommending—though even with those, protecting a child’s ears isn’t as simple as just handing over a pair. We believe that volume-limiting headphones are merely tools that can assist parents or caregivers in protecting a child’s hearing—they are not solutions in themselves. But our picks, used properly, should help to provide an added level of protection for your kids’ ears, and peace of mind for you.

Buying Options

The Puro BT2200 is our pick because not only do these headphones remain within safe listening levels when used properly, but they were also the top pick of all our kid panelists, which means your little ones will be more likely to use them. The Bluetooth wireless connection—done correctly here—means that the Puro pair will play at the correct levels, whatever source the child uses it with. The wireless design is also handy for avoiding tangles, a favorite feature of our big-kid panelists. The size and weight fit kids from 2½ to 11 years comfortably, so you can buy these headphones once and they’ll grow with your child, and they are sturdy enough that they should last a long time, too. In fact, we long-term tested these headphones with several kids, including on cross-country flights, and all of our test pairs are still doing just fine. While a lot of other kids headphones are made of breakable cheap plastic, the BT2200 has a well-constructed aluminum frame. Plus, the headphones come with a 30-day money-back guarantee and a one-year warranty.

The Puro set connects easily over Bluetooth and has a simple on/off switch and volume controls. And with at least 18 hours of battery life, it offers a lot of listening time between charges. If it does run out of power, or if you just need a cord for use with a particular device, one is provided. As long as you plug the cord in correctly, the BT2200 will keep your child’s music at safer levels. (We recommend supervision when the child uses this pair corded.)

Puro also makes a version of these headphones with active noise cancelling: The PuroQuiet headphones fit just as well, are just as sturdy, and measure acceptably within safe limits. The noise cancelling is actually effective, especially for airplane noise. (You can see more in the chart below.) However, we believe that the $200 asking price is more than most families are willing to spend for kids headphones. If you travel a ton and don’t mind the expense, the PuroQuiet headphones are the only active noise-cancelling headphones for kids that we are aware of, and we are comfortable recommending them for those who can afford the asking price.

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Runner-up

Ages 2 through 4 will love the Onanoff pair’s fun colors and lightweight, comfy fit. But they’ll grow out of the small size, the sound quality isn’t as great as that of our pick, and passive volume limiting isn’t as safe as Bluetooth.

Buying Options

If you need a cord but still want to get your toddler a safer pair of headphones, the Onanoff BuddyPhones Explore is a great budget option. The smaller size and bright colors were a hit with our tiniest testers, and the build quality makes this set sturdy enough to take a reasonable beating and survive. The cord is detachable, minimizing a toddler’s risk of getting snagged (or snagging something else), the headphones fold up and come with a carrying bag for portability, and the included fun decals let kids personalize. However, in our tests the sound quality was nowhere near as good as that of our pick, and the small size means older kids won’t find the BuddyPhones Explore as comfortable as they grow. Plus, the volume reduction of wired headphones isn’t as predictable—if you use a device with a powerful amp, they can play louder than advertised.

Runner-up

Big kids in our tests liked the soft padding, simple design, fabric-wrapped cable, and in-line remote/mic. But this pair doesn’t sound as good as our top pick, and it also uses passive volume limiting, which isn’t as safe as Bluetooth.

Buying Options

Bigger kids (4 years and up) have different requirements than little ones. So if you’re seeking a less expensive or corded option for an older child, the JLab JBuddies Studio is a great choice. In our tests, its soft padding and more “grown-up” colors were a hit with the 11-year-olds. The fabric-wrapped cable, with a single-button remote and mic, went over well, too. The permanently attached cable means there’s no chance of plugging it in incorrectly and accidentally defeating the volume-limiting function (and motivated kids won’t be able to thwart the limiting by substituting another cable). However, this set isn’t as good as our pick in sound quality, and all our older panelists agreed that they would prefer a wireless design. The JBuddies Studio is also available in a Bluetooth-only version, but you should note that the wireless edition won’t work corded, which can be a dealbreaker for school use.

Buying Options

Runner-up

Ages 2 through 4 will love the Onanoff pair’s fun colors and lightweight, comfy fit. But they’ll grow out of the small size, the sound quality isn’t as great as that of our pick, and passive volume limiting isn’t as safe as Bluetooth.

Buying Options

Runner-up

Big kids in our tests liked the soft padding, simple design, fabric-wrapped cable, and in-line remote/mic. But this pair doesn’t sound as good as our top pick, and it also uses passive volume limiting, which isn’t as safe as Bluetooth.

Why you should trust us

Not only did we do intensive research and consult with the WHO, CDC, and NIDCD (you can read more about that below), but I (Lauren Dragan) also hold a bachelor’s degree in both music performance and audio production from Ithaca College and have tested literally hundreds of headphones during my time here at The Wirecutter.

I spent several years in terrestrial radio before moving on to become a professional voice actor in Los Angeles, a job I continue to do and love. In other words, I’ve spent more than a decade in and out of top recording studios. Around the same time, I started reviewing high-end home audio equipment for publications such as Home Entertainment, Home Theater Magazine, and Sound & Vision. Since landing at The Wirecutter, I’ve had the pleasure of listening to and reviewing hundreds of headphones, and my articles have been featured in Fast Company, Forbes, The Los Angeles Times, and Time. I’ve got a pretty good handle on what’s out there and what’s worth your time and hard-earned money.

But beyond all my audio experience, I’m also a mom. I want my son to be able to enjoy attending concerts, listening to recordings, and playing instruments for his entire life. I want to protect his hearing. But I also live in the real world, and I want real, practical options. Every ounce of obsessive research and love I already put into caring for his well-being I also put into this guide. So know that when I make a recommendation, I don’t do it lightly. Your kid is now my kid, in a way.

And then there are our experts. In addition to myself, we had Brent Butterworth, a Wirecutter AV writer with decades of experience in the audio field for publications such as About.com, Home Theater, and Sound & Vision, who helped me by designing our volume-measurement protocols.

As for outside advice, we leaned heavily on interviews I conducted with Brian Fligor, ScD, chair of the World Health Organization’s Make Listening Safe initiative and author of Understanding Childhood Hearing Loss, and with Derek Stiles, PhD, director of audiology at Boston Children’s Hospital. I had conversations with representatives of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. I pored over medical journals, studies by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and tech articles from sites like Engadget, Forbes, and Macworld, as well as parenting sites and blogs.

Why limiting volume is important

According to the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2010 (PDF), the incidence of hearing loss in US adolescents ages 12 to 19 increased from 14.9 percent in 1988–1994 to 19.5 percent in 2005–2006. That means nearly one in five teens are facing noise-induced hearing loss—that’s a lot of kids. While not all of these cases can be specifically linked to headphone use, experts such as Dr. James E. Foy and Dr. David A. Schessel agree that headphones are a contributing factor.

And the hearing loss doesn’t happen just because a kid suddenly flips on their iPad too loudly. Most hearing loss in a civilian setting is caused by a regular dosing of noise. The effects of noise are cumulative, so the OSHA standard that the WHO recommends sticking to is a limit on overall exposure to 85 decibels over eight hours. But even listening at that “safer” volume level of 85 dB doesn’t mean your child’s hearing is fully protected, especially if they get exposure to additional environmental noise over the course of the day. A 2010 Kaiser Family Foundation study found that children ages 8 to 18 devote an average of seven-plus hours daily to the use of entertainment media. That’s equivalent to the time spent at a full-time job—and if they’re listening in excess of recommended levels, and they have exposure to more noise throughout their day, that could mean potential trouble. To better understand the problem, let’s look briefly at how hearing works.

Volume + duration = damage. After hours of exposure, even a few decibels above 85 dB can cause the ear’s hearing-related cells to become overwhelmed with waste and die. Illustration: Kim Ku

Sound waves enter the ear and vibrate the eardrum, which in turn moves the middle ear bones (malleus, incus, and stapes) and causes the fluid and tiny hairs inside the cochlea (inner ear) to move. Those hairs stimulate nerve cells that send a signal to your brain, which it interprets as sound.

If you’re like us, when you first learned about noise-induced hearing damage, you probably imagined a loud blast of sound physically damaging the eardrum or breaking the tiny hairs that transmit information to the nerve cells. And yes, that is one way hearing loss can happen—in an explosion, for example. However, that’s not the way most people lose their hearing.

Most people experience hearing loss due to the cumulative effects of excessive noise exposure, listening to fairly loud noise over a longer period of time. Here’s why: Human ears weren’t made to handle volume above 70 dBA most of the time (more on what dBA is in How we tested the volume limits). Our ancestors had to listen for tiny sounds—a crack of a branch in the woods, for example, or a bird call, indicators of prey they wanted to eat or predators that wanted to eat them.

Noise exposure is a lot like sun exposure: Long enough, and bright enough, and you’ll burn.

For most of human history, anything loud enough to damage the ears—say, 109 dBA or more—would be likely to kill us. A crack of lighting or a volcanic eruption at close range would permanently damage your ears, sure, but the rest of you would be so messed up that you’d have other things to worry about (like dying). Anything else that could get somewhat loud, like the human voice yelling, would give out before it ever did long-term harm to the ears.

But in this post-industrial society, people are regularly exposed to those kinds of sounds, from motorcycles, chainsaws, concerts, and yes, headphones. And that’s where the modern problem comes in. When the tiny hairs of the inner ear trigger the nerve cells to fire, those cells create a waste product. It’s somewhat similar to your leg muscles building up lactic acid after a very long run. If the noise is quiet, not much waste is produced. If it’s loud but short, the cells get a chance to rest and clear out the waste. But listen loud enough and long enough, and the cells can’t clean out the waste quickly enough—and eventually the waste kills the cell. This is why duration matters as much as volume. Noise exposure is a lot like sun exposure: Long enough, and bright enough, and you’ll burn.

How much damage occurs is partly genetic. To continue the sun-exposure analogy, some people sunburn, others tan. Some burn quickly, others do only after a long exposure. The same applies to sound damage. Some people can metabolize faster and may not experience as much damage from the same loud exposure as someone else. But no tests exist for this tendency, and therefore no one can predict who will be susceptible and who will not.

Worse, even if you don’t show signs of damage now, noise exposure could catch up with you later in life. A study published in 2017 by the CDC states that “hearing loss is the third most common chronic physical condition in the United States and is twice as prevalent as diabetes or cancer. In fact, “one in five … persons aged 20–29 years” had “audiometric notches,” or sections of their hearing frequency range that were damaged or missing. Additionally, “damage to hearing accumulates over time so that hazardous exposure that begins earlier in life has the potential to be more damaging as persons age.” Even more frightening is the fact that you might have damage already and not even know it yet, as the study states that “persons with auditory damage caused by noise frequently do not recognize it; one in four U.S. adults who reported excellent or good hearing had an audiometric notch.” And these conclusions are backed up by other findings. In studies done with rats, high noise exposure in young rats didn’t cause immediate hearing damage, but those rats exposed in youth showed marked hearing loss later in life—greater than those that were not exposed at all.

Okay, so now we know we have to protect our hearing. But how? What’s safe? Well, that’s also a tricky subject. No one actually knows for certain. We know only what’s considered safer. Remember, some people are more susceptible to hearing loss than others, and there’s no good measurement to know if your child is one of those people. So the World Health Organization recommends proceeding as though you or your loved ones are predisposed, just in case.

Generally speaking, you can listen to music at 70 dBA for any duration. But the catch is that when the volume gets that low, you lose clarity, and the louder and quieter parts of a song seem about the same. Therefore, you’ll see a lot of kids headphones with a volume limit of 85 dBA.

Here’s the catch: Limiting levels to 85 dBA does not mean, in itself, that the listener will be safe. To return to our sunburn analogy, just as with damage done to your skin, damage done to your hearing is most often due to prolonged and continuous exposure. Continuous exposure to noise over 70 dBA, not just an instantaneous loud event, is what does the harm. So over enough time, even the recommended limit of 85 dBA can be problematic.

The WHO recommends listening at no more than 85 dbA (or roughly 60 percent of mobile-device volume) and doing so for no more than 60 minutes at a time.

In fact, the 85 dB recommendation is based on old (conducted from the 1950s into the 1970s) OSHA studies showing that “of people exposed to 8 hours of 85 dBA, 92% didn’t have handicapping hearing loss.” That isn’t to say they had no hearing loss or no damage, just that they weren’t handicapped by it. Hardly reassuring.

Given medical ethics, researchers really have no good way to study exactly how much noise causes damage in humans. (After all, would you willingly let scientists try to damage your ears?) So we’re left with a few key facts:

Daily noise exposure includes more than just media consumption. Consider the traffic noise on your commute, the din in your workplace, construction by your house, airplane engines, et cetera—everything loud you hear all day long. This “environmental noise exposure” can add up quickly.

According to a 2010 Kaiser Family Foundation study, children ages 8 to 18 devote an average of seven-plus hours a day using entertainment media (more than 53 hours per week). And experts such as Brian Fligor caution that listening to music loudly via headphones “can contribute to hearing loss” just like listening to blasting sound systems can.

If your child is exposed to any environmental noise greater than 70 dbA during the day, the amount of safe listening time they have left is greatly reduced.

Taking all of that into account, the WHO recommends listening at no more than 85 dbA (or roughly 60 percent of mobile-device volume) and doing so for no more than 60 minutes at a time. This 60/60 recommendation applies to both kids and adults.

As the volume level goes up, the time it takes to damage your hearing drops dramatically. You can listen to conversation around 60 dB all day, and even listen to traffic noise at 80 dB for about eight hours, but it takes only a few minutes of exposure to rock-concert noise levels at 115 dB (yes, some tested headphones measured that high) to potentially damage your hearing permanently.

Now, because parents can’t chase their kids around all day with a dB meter, nor can they constantly check the volume settings on every device the kids use, the best bet is to find headphones that reduce the volume. It’s not a perfect fix, but like the foam bumpers on coffee-table corners and “childproof” latches on drawers, a volume-limiting feature offers one extra level of protection that can reduce a child’s risk of injury.

Can volume-limiting headphones still permit harmful noise exposure? Yes. And can non-limiting headphones used carefully be relatively safe? Sure. But just as you wouldn’t knowingly allow a kid unfettered access to the medicine cabinet, you can minimize the risk of permanently damaging their hearing.

How we tested

Our big-kid panel gets down to business. Photo: Lauren Dragan

Let’s take a breather from the safety aspects and confront a harsh reality: This may come as a shock to you, but kids have very strong opinions. (We know, it’s hard to believe.) If kids don’t like a pair of headphones, safe or not, they aren’t wearing those headphones. So the first part of our testing was to call some kid panelists together and get their input.

We ran two panels: one consisting of 2- and 3-year-olds (little kids), and another of 4- to 11-year-olds (big kids). In this testing, we let the children guide us. For the little kids, we had them try on each set of headphones and asked them what they thought. The answers were often brief (“Comfy”) or decisive (“No!” while yanking them off), but we took their input seriously. Whenever possible, we asked them to tell us why they didn’t like any headphones that they discarded. After we got opinions on all of the headphones, we let them choose what they liked most, and we talked about what aspects they liked.

For the bigger kids, we laid out all the headphones and let them try the models on at their own pace. After everyone had tried each pair, we had a group talk. First we discussed each model individually, and the kids gave input. Then we asked them to choose their favorite headphones, and we talked about whether they agreed with each pick and why or why not. Lastly, we had them talk to us about the headphones they would absolutely never use, or as it came to be known, “the hate list,” and we discussed what aspects they disliked. After that, we came to a set of top picks that everyone agreed they’d be happy to have.

I then spent a while subjecting the kids’ favorites to some endurance testing. I stepped on them wearing boots, I tugged cables, I twisted them, I let my toddler chew on them. Luckily, our panel had a good eye: None of their top choices crumpled under the stress.

Not a fashion choice: stepping up the testing with some boots. Video: Lauren Dragan

Now that we knew which headphones were kid-approved, we had to figure out whether the volume levels at which they played were actually safe. You can find a lot of kid-oriented headphones that claim to be volume limiting, and yet there are no industry standards, guidelines, or governing bodies that check up on those claims. In fact, the term “volume limiting” appears frequently as part of manufacturers’ marketing materials for these devices, when “volume reducing” is actually closer to correct. We’ll explain more about this topic below.

To measure the volume output of the headphones, I enlisted the help of my Wirecutter colleague Brent Butterworth, who has extensive experience in measuring headphones and speakers for AV magazines. But we were in uncharted territory. We couldn’t find any published tests of this sort to go by, nor did we have any industry standards for testing. The only people we could find who were doing such tests were companies that make these sorts of headphones, and only a couple were able to provide us with useful advice. So we worked with audio experts and hearing-loss experts to develop what we think might be the world’s first attempt at a formal, published method for testing the maximum volume from headphones. We couldn’t have done this without Brent’s expertise and experience, so I asked him to detail his methods below.

How we tested the volume limits

The human ear and brain can’t accurately assess the volume of sound; if they could, there might be no need for volume-limiting headphones. So in order to test how loud the kids headphones could play, we did a set of formal objective sound measurements using audio-testing equipment.

Immediately we found a problem: Almost all these headphones can produce dangerously high volume if you use them with certain gear. And not just specialized gear—a relatively high-powered headphone amplifier, such as the ones built into many AV receivers, or the stand-alone amps popular among enthusiasts (and for most traditional lab measurements), could drive most any headphones well above 85 dB.

This problem happens because most of these headphones don’t really limit volume but merely reduce it. Passive headphones (that is, non-powered headphones, the kind you’re probably most familiar with) reduce volume using resistors, an inexpensive electrical component that reduces electrical flow. The technique is similar to splicing a narrow piece of water pipe onto the end of a fatter pipe, which reduces the amount of water coming through the pipe. However, you can get the overall flow of water back up to the original level by increasing the pressure going through the pipe. In the case of headphones, you apply the extra “pressure” by turning up the volume on the source device. Sure, the headphones are reducing the volume as if you had the dial on 5 instead of 8, but if you turn the volume to 11 it’ll still sound like it’s on 8.

Active headphones (in other words, internally powered ones) such as the Puro BT2200 can employ a digital limiter that stops the sound from playing any higher than a certain volume level. But few of the headphones we tested for this guide have internal amplifiers or digital processors, so they’re not precise. In our tests, a few of the passive models produced little, if any, reduction or limiting of volume.

Of course, a child will almost certainly use a phone, tablet, or portable music player for most or all of their listening, so the fact that most of these headphones will play much louder with a headphone amp is largely irrelevant in day-to-day use. However, we did need to settle on an appropriate source for the audio signals we would be using in our tests. Jason Wehner, an engineering consultant who has been involved in the design of volume-limiting headphones, made the sensible suggestion of using an iPhone as our source device, because iPhones are the loudest source most people will encounter—the iPhone’s internal amplifiers are more powerful than those found in most Android phones. We ended up using an iPod touch (sixth-generation model), which was able to play slightly louder (+0.38 dB) than our iPhone 6s and substantially louder (+4.4 dB) than our Samsung Galaxy S6. The iPod touch is popular as a “starter screen” for young children, so it seemed an appropriate choice here. We haven’t, however, exhaustively tested the output of all possible sources—video game consoles and home theater receivers, for example—so we’re unclear on how these headphones would perform with them. In any case, such devices would likely be used by older kids with gaming headsets, which don’t make any volume-limiting claims and are somewhat outside the scope of this guide (though parents and caregivers should be aware).

The hearing experts we consulted suggested using pink noise, a common test signal with an equal amount of energy per octave that more or less mimics the content of music. To the ear, pink noise sounds a lot like the white noise you’d hear between stations with an old analog-tuner FM radio, but less hissy sounding. We used pink noise with A-weighting, which basically removes frequencies below about 500 Hz (about an octave above middle C on a piano). According to Brian Fligor, chair of the WHO’s Make Listening Safe initiative and one of the experts we interviewed and consulted, low frequencies have a negligible effect on hearing loss.

As we’ve already discussed, the general consensus among experts is that an environmental noise level of 85 dBA (the “A” standing for A-weighting) is considered reasonably safe for an hour of listening. (For the technically inclined, the pink noise we used for these tests has an average level of -10 dBFS, or decibels relative to full scale, which is what audio manufacturers often use to measure the maximum volume of their devices.)

Although pink noise loosely simulates the content of music, it’s still just a simulation, one that serves to make measurements easier and more repeatable. We wanted to add a more real-world evaluation of how loud these headphones could get. To do that, we played a recent Top 40 hit, “Cold Water” by Major Lazer, through all the headphones and measured the A-weighted Leq (equivalent continuous sound level). Leq is a commonly used gauge of sound exposure over time; to oversimplify a bit, it’s sort of like the average volume.

We used the first chorus (from 0:45 to 1:06), which is one of the louder parts of “Cold Water” and roughly analogous to loud dance music. This was something of a worst-case test, because our Leq measurement of the entire tune was typically -1.3 dB lower, although we could have listened at an even louder level for this test because the second chorus typically measured +1.5 dB louder than the first. We also ran test measurements using another tune, ZZ Top’s “Chartreuse.” This track is a very loud recording that’s heavily dynamically compressed, which means the average sound level is pretty close to the maximum sound level possible, resulting in a track that to the ear sounds louder overall. The results were similar to what we measured from the first chorus of “Cold Water.”

For all of these measurements, we attached the headphones to a G.R.A.S. 43AG ear/cheek simulator. At the suggestions of the hearing experts we consulted, we used what’s referred to as a “diffuse-field calibration curve.” We did so because hearing researchers originally determined the theoretically safer environmental sound levels (the 85 dBA amount) using a sound pressure level meter held in free air without much around it. Sound that reaches the eardrum—and sound that reaches the measurement microphone built into the G.R.A.S. 43AG—is altered by the earlobe and ear canal (or in the case of the 43AG, by the simulated rubber earlobe and metal ear canal). So to make sure our measurements were comparable to that 85 dBA free-air measurement, we had to create a method to electronically reverse the way the 43AG’s simulated earlobe and ear canal change the sound. The correction curve (think of this as similar to an EQ adjustment) we created was the “diffuse-field calibration curve.” We created this curve by playing pink noise through a speaker, measuring that noise with an Audiomatica MIC-01 measurement microphone and CLIO 10 FW analyzer, and then comparing that measurement with one taken using the G.R.A.S. 43AG in the same location. Thus, using this correction curve, the levels we measured through the ear/cheek simulator would be directly comparable with environmental-noise measurements.

We calibrated the 43AG’s level using a Reed SC-05 calibrator. For the A-weighted pink noise and Leq measurements, we connected the 43AG to an M-Audio Mobile Pre USB interface and a laptop computer running Room EQ Wizard, a free but powerful audio-measurement application. (By the way, we employed roughly $8,000 worth of test gear in this effort.)

Note that headphone measurements have some inherent inconsistency. Small differences in the fit of the headphone on the ear/cheek simulator can affect the result, just as moving a headphone around slightly on your ear changes the sound. We did everything possible to ensure a good fit of each pair of headphones on the simulator, including using light pressure from the 43AG’s clamping mechanism to help seat the headphones on the simulated rubber earlobe, and listening to the signal coming from the 43AG’s internal microphone to confirm that the sound from each model being tested was coming through properly. Still, we needed to allow for possible measurement inaccuracy, so we decided to make 88 dBA our pass/fail point on the pink noise tests. Any set of headphones that doesn’t exceed that level with pink noise can be considered reasonably safe, along the guidelines explained in this review. Any set of headphones that exceeds this threshold by a few decibels isn’t necessarily dangerous but is less safe than models that pass the test.

As Brian Fligor pointed out to us, “Most all earphones [headphones] could be used in an unsafe manner. If the max sound level is so low that it can’t get over the background noise of an airplane or minivan on a highway, then it’s not going to sound very good. To make music sound good, the max level does need to have some headroom. This is where a combination of safer level limits along with earphones that block out competing background noise is probably the safest combination.”

To find out which kids headphone models performed well in this regard, we ran the same type of isolation measurements we use to test noise-cancelling headphones: We played pink noise through two speakers and a subwoofer at a level of 75 dB, placed each headphone model on the G.R.A.S. 43AG ear/cheek simulator, and then performed analysis using TrueRTA software to learn how much sound was leaking around or through the headphone into the 43AG’s microphone (and, by extension, into the wearer’s ears).

Unfortunately, only four of the headphones we tested provided notably effective isolation, blocking out a significant amount of sound in the audio spectrum (50 Hz to 2 kHz) that’s typically loudest in the backseat of a car, where we expect kids headphones might get a lot of use. And these pairs weren’t among the best performers in volume limiting, nor were they among our child test panel’s favorites. This group included the Direct Sound YourTones, which reduced sounds in this region by -8.1 dB, and the Fuhu Nabi Headphones, which reduced the same sounds by -4.8 dB. (Note that both of those pairs are large over-ear models.) The two in-ear models we tested did an even better job of blocking outside sounds. The Etymotic ETY-Kids3 reduced environmental noise by -22.0 dB in the test spectrum, and the Puro IEM200 reduced it by -14.4 dB. Note that these results are relevant only for situations where most of the noise is fairly low-frequency, such as in a car or an airplane cabin. Many of these headphones will do a better job of blocking common household noise such as the roar of a vacuum cleaner.

How we interpreted the results

Four-year-old Evan contemplates the metaphorical implications of having headphones with a cord. Photo: Lisa Nakamura

A limiting circuit alone doesn’t make for safe listening. It’s up to adults to monitor a child’s overall noise exposure.

The multiple objective tests gave us a lot of useful data to work with. Our goal, as you might expect, was to find the headphones that limited the volume to our specified “safer” range. Although we were looking at 85 dBA as our standard, we wouldn’t say that moderately exceeding 85 dBA on the pink noise or the Leq test constituted a failure. These headphones are generally advertised as delivering a max of 85 dBA with pink noise, and if they hit that or came within a couple of decibels (to allow for possible inconsistency in the measurement), we could say that they “passed.” As such, we felt that a cutoff of 88 dBA on pink noise and 90 dBA on music Leq tests gave us enough of a margin for error while still providing a safer listening experience.

As Brent put it, “The reason for the Leq test is to add a real-world check. Audio researchers use pink noise because they need repeatable testing protocols for manufacturers and other researchers to easily replicate. But while these testing protocols are intended to be at least somewhat analogous to real-world conditions, they don’t always reflect the demands of actual day-to-day use. (The problems Samsung had with exploding batteries in the Galaxy Note 7 provide a recent example of this. Internal lab testing didn’t reveal issues that may have become apparent in a real-world environment.) Thus, it’s a good idea to add other tests with conditions more like you’d experience while actually using the product, even if those methods don’t fit within standard lab-testing protocols. So if the headphones exceed about 90 dB on the Leq dBA with music, that doesn’t mean the headphone’s bad, just that it’s less on the safe side than the ones that don’t exceed about 90 dBA.” And again, a limiting circuit alone doesn’t make for safe listening. It’s up to adults to monitor a child’s overall noise exposure.

Brian Fligor agreed. “It is reasonable to go by the pink noise measurement as the standard, but I would set the cutoff at 88 dBA (3 decibels above the 85 dBA threshold for the safer listening level for one hour of exposure per day). The reason for the 3 dB wiggle room is specifically for measurement error, and the fact that audio content is never constant—that is, there’s lots of pauses in music and in dialogue (movies, audio books), so the total energy being sent into the ear (energy being the level-over-time dose) is not just a function of the level you’d measure by pink noise, but also the “duty cycle” (for instance, a 50 percent duty cycle means that there’s sound coming through 50 percent of the time and the other 50 percent is quieter). So, 3 dB is actually double the energy and is a reasonable trade-off for measurement error and the amount of time sound actually comes through.” In other words: Because music volumes vary and thus measurements can vary, it’s fair to have a small window above the recommended 85 dBA before you start considering a headphone’s measurement a “failure.”

So we divided our headphone contenders into ranges, rather than simply dismissing anything that exceeded 85 dB. In our Competition chart, you’ll see icons that indicate relative safety levels. Anything marked ✅ or ? can be said to be on the safer side. But anything that measured 88 dB or above on our pink noise test—indicated in the ⚠️ and ❌ ranges in our chart—could in our opinion produce levels significantly loud enough to warrant caution. Be sure to also compare the pink noise and Leq numbers, however. Headphones that measured 90 dBA or above in the music Leq “real-world” test warrant caution.

As we said previously, headphones with the capacity to get louder than 85 dB can still be used safely. But the point of using a pair of volume-limiting kids headphones is to give parents and caregivers a breather from constant vigilance, and—like bumpers on the corners of a coffee table—to provide a little more safety.

The maximum volume of some of the headphones we tested compared with real-world sounds. We obtained these headphone measurements using pink noise at an average level of -10 dBFS, played at the maximum output level of an iPhone 6s. *Approximate dBA per WHO

All of that aside, we found a 32 dB range between the lowest and loudest max volumes on these headphones. That’s massive. Even considering the margin of error in headphone measurements, a 32 dB difference? Clearly some of these manufacturers are doing something wrong.

This issue is magnified in the case of Bluetooth headphones. As Brent mentioned in his water-in-a-pipe analogy above, corded headphones reduce volume by placing a resistor in the cable. It’s possible to override the volume limits of any corded pair of headphones: You just need to plug the headphones into a powerful-enough amplifier.

Most kids headphones are designed to handle the output level of a mobile device. However, home theater system receivers, PCs, and gaming systems with more power can often go much louder than an iPhone. So although the corded headphones we tested stayed within the 85 dB range in use with an iPhone or iPad, every single corded headphone model in this guide could be pushed into dangerous ranges if used with a more powerful device.

Common mobile devices compared with our reference device, the iPhone 6s. *Theoretical limit measured with a voltmeter. The voice coil or resistor in the tested headphones would almost certainly burn out before this output level could be reached.

However, Bluetooth doesn’t work that way. Because the power comes from the amplifier within the headphones themselves, you can’t override the maximum volume setting when using these headphones wirelessly: Once you get to the top volume on the headphones, you hit a wall. It’s for this reason we recommend Bluetooth whenever possible: You simply can’t make headphones used via Bluetooth any louder than their internal circuitry will allow. The volume limits are set by the manufacturer. So for any set of Bluetooth headphones in this category to excessively exceed volume limits is truly baffling.

Understanding all of that, why do we say that up to one-third exceed safer volume levels? Some of these headphones have design flaws that make it very easy for kids to disable or bypass their volume-reduction features. If all it takes to remove the limits is to push a button or pull off a dongle, you can guarantee it will happen. Anyone who has spent more than a few minutes with a toddler can tell you that kids love to press buttons and pull things apart. So even if a pair of headphones was within safer limits when used properly, if a kid could easily thwart the safety features, or if the proper use was confusing or vague for a parent, we dismissed it. When we included headphones that could easily be used improperly to exceed our 88/90 dBA thresholds, the number of models that failed our tests—and exceeded those levels in testing—jumped from one-fifth to one-third.

Buying Options

Of the 30 headphones we tested, the Puro BT2200 was the only model that all of our kid testers, little and big, agreed on. A model’s ability to fit and appeal to a wide variety of ages and head sizes is key if you want headphones that will grow with your child over a few years or if one pair is to be shared among siblings.

Our big kids loved the “comfy fit, great sound, soft earpads, and color.” They also really enjoyed having Bluetooth as a feature, agreeing that “it’s nice not having a cord.” Four-year-old Evan declared, “I never want anything but Bluetooth headphones ever again!” His older brother, Dylan, remarked, “The Pokémon soundtrack sounds really good on these. It’s the best ever! I’m going to listen to it for the rest of my life!” Bold claims, indeed.

Of the 30 headphones we tested, the Puro BT2200 was the only model that all of our kid testers, little and big, agreed on.

Our little kids liked them as well, pointing to the BT2200 as being one of the headphones they would want most. Both the headband and the earpad size were comfortable on our toddler panel’s noggins. While the younger panelists needed assistance getting started with the Bluetooth connection, once the music was playing, they acclimated quickly. The simple buttons on the side include a volume control, power on and off, and a Bluetooth button that controls pairing, as well as controls for playing and pausing music, and answering phone calls.

Speaking of Bluetooth, in our tests the Puro surpassed its super-long claimed battery life of 18 active hours. We heard a warning beep at 22 hours, 16 minutes, and the BT2200 finally died at 22 hours, 25 minutes. So provided that you charge the Puro occasionally, your kids shouldn’t be at risk of running out of juice (a handy feature for an item that may not always end up where you expect it to be at the end of the day). And if you do forget to charge it, the Puro pair comes with a volume-reducing cable, as well, so your child won’t be without headphones. One massive caveat, however: The BT2200 will play louder via the included cable than it will over Bluetooth. Plus, you’ll need to make sure to plug the cable in the correct direction and supervise your child when they’re using it. (Okay, so three caveats. We’ll talk more about why they matter below.)

Along with the cable, the BT2200 comes with a zippered travel case, which will help to keep the headphones clean and protected on trips. Puro has also made these headphones pretty sturdy: We bent and flexed the headband, stepped on them, and generally mashed them up to be sure they could handle the occasional tough love or accident. The BT2200 is not indestructible, but it should be able to take what a kid dishes out (so long as the child is old enough or responsible enough to manage an audio player or tablet).

Photo: Michael Hession

Music fans will be happy to know that this Puro model also sounds great. Of all the headphones we tested for this guide, the Puro BT2200 was the best sounding and most friendly to discerning adult ears, far better than most of the competition, which often sounded muddy, muffled, and coarse at best. It’s clear that this Puro set has quality drivers and that the company spent some time tuning the overall sound.

In our tests that sound was well-balanced; no one range overwhelmed any other. The highest highs were a touch veiled, and the female vocal range was a bit forward when compared with the sound of similarly priced headphones for grown-ups, but it was certainly not objectionable, and this is truly a minor quibble. We’d be happy listening to these headphones on a trip ourselves, if our heads were a bit smaller.

One concern we noticed in many Amazon reviews for kids headphones was that of parents worried that volume limits might make volume-reducing headphones unusable on a plane, as they wouldn’t be able to play music loud enough to drown out the noises of the flight. To address this concern, let’s first talk about plane noise. In a statement to BBC Future, Pamela Mason of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association said, “The noise during a typical plane journey can vary significantly. Take-off and landing are the loudest moments, when noise levels inside the cabin can reach 105 decibels (dB). At cruising altitudes, noise drops to around 85 dB.”

As we discussed above, anything over 90 dB can lead to hearing damage with long enough exposure. And as the BBC Future article points out, “On older aircraft, or towards the back of a plane, noise levels can often get close to this threshold.” Clearly, overpowering the plane noise isn’t the safest solution. Puro attempted to combat this problem by making the BT2200 a noise-isolating design, so the headphones can both block out environmental noise and allow for listening at quieter levels. And the company did a pretty great job.

To test the design in a real-world setting, I vacuumed our home while wearing the Puro BT2200 and listening to an audiobook. I didn’t even need to max out the volume to hear the words perfectly. I also blasted some airplane cabin noise from speakers, and while the Puro pair didn’t do as well with the lower-frequency sounds, I was easily able to hear the audiobook at 80 percent volume. So, provided that the BT2200 is seated correctly over your child’s ears (fit is always critical with any pair of headphones), in home settings your child really shouldn’t need to exceed safer limits to hear their media.

Now, is the sound clarity in noisy environments as ideal as with adult active noise-cancelling headphones, or as isolating as with studio headphones? No. We’d love to see isolating headphones that children find wearable, sound good, and have safer volume levels. But in the absence of a model that covers all those bases, we concluded that as long as the kid could hear the program they were watching, that was enough, considering that the ultimate goal was to protect the child’s hearing.

Puro does make a version of these headphones with active noise cancelling, the PuroQuiet. We measured that pair against our top noise-cancelling headphones and found that it was relatively effective at reducing noise, especially in the airplane-noise range of sounds. The PuroQuiet pair has pretty much all of the same pros and cons as the BT2200, with one extra caveat: the price. At $200, we think most families will find the price too high. However, if you travel with your little one frequently and don’t mind the expense, the PuroQuiet headphones are very recommendable. It’s really up to you if they’re worth the investment for your family.

As for the volume limits, in our tests the Puro BT2200 measured within safer levels. As you can see in the chart below, according to our findings the BT2200 measured at 85.0 dBA when used wirelessly, and at 85.2 dBA pink noise/90.3 dBA music Leq when used with the supplied cord inserted in the correct direction. (Doing that isn’t as straightforward as it sounds; you’ll need to be careful. More on that below.) Those results are comfortably close enough to the WHO guidelines for us to determine that this model meets our safety standards.

The proper direction for inserting the Puro’s cable is labeled, just not prominently enough. Photo: Michael Hession

Bear in mind, however, that as Brent mentioned in our testing-methodology explanation above, when used corded, a source with more power can increase any headphones’ volume—including that of our picks—beyond recommended ranges. As such, using the pair over Bluetooth is our recommended method of listening. (Additionally, when a child uses the headphones wirelessly, they have no way to thwart the volume limiting.) So if the battery does run out, be sure to plug that cord in the correct way, or else the resistor/volume reducer won’t function properly.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

The above is the biggest problem with the Puro BT2200: When a child is using the headphones wired, the supplied cord must be plugged in the correct direction, or else the volume reduction will not work. In the chart below, you can see the results of our tests with the cord inserted backward. The cable is labeled to show which side attaches to the headphones and which side goes to the music device, but that marking is very easy to miss.

When a child is using the headphones wired, the supplied cord must be plugged in the correct direction, or else the volume reduction will not work.

We recommend using a colorful piece of washi tape or duct tape to mark which end attaches to the device so that you can see if your child is set up properly with a quick glance. Maybe in future updates Puro will add such an indicator or make a cable that has a different-size plug on the headphone side to make the orientation impossible to mess up. Normally we don’t like cables like that, but in this case it would be a good idea. Until then, the cable design is the biggest concern for us, and we recommend keeping an eye on your child when the cable is in use.

That said, with the headphones’ 18-hour-plus battery life, the cable should be needed only as a backup option. Most portable devices have a Bluetooth connection, and our kid panelists preferred using headphones wirelessly. With so many other great features in this Puro pair, the cable problem is not a dealbreaker but warrants watching. If you think you won’t use Bluetooth, and you feel that a confusing cable may be an issue for your family, check out our runner-up picks below for wired-only options that aren’t quite as good as the Puro but are a bit quieter when corded.

The only other flaw we saw with the Puro BT2200 was the inability to change tracks using the headphones themselves. This omission is probably more likely to bug older kids and adults than younger ones (who we expect will probably be using these headphones for movies or games), and our panelists didn’t seem to miss the feature in our testing. Regardless, it would be nice to have if Puro were to decide to make changes in a future version.

One more thing worth mentioning isn’t a flaw so much as an observation: If you’re hoping to use these headphones on long car trips, and you have a newer car seat with thickly padded headrest sides (like the Maxi-Cosi Pria 70), most of the headphones we tested—including the Puro BT2200—will not fit in between the side crash supports.

Only one pair we tested did fit, measured well, and was tolerated by our toddlers: the Maxell Action Kids. That set’s sound, however, was meh, the foam earpads didn’t seem like they’d last a long time, and our older kids found them to be too small. But if you need something for little ones on car trips only and you have a narrow car seat, we thought it worth mentioning here.

The bottom line is this: If you want kids headphones that sound great, that are safer for their ears than much of the competition, and that the kids will actually like wearing for several years, the Puro BT2200 is the most deserving of your dollars.

A runner-up for little kids: Onanoff BuddyPhones Explore

Photo: Michael Hession

Runner-up

Ages 2 through 4 will love the Onanoff pair’s fun colors and lightweight, comfy fit. But they’ll grow out of the small size, the sound quality isn’t as great as that of our pick, and passive volume limiting isn’t as safe as Bluetooth.

Buying Options

If you are looking to spend a bit less money and want a corded pair of headphones for your 2- to 4-year-old, the foldable Onanoff BuddyPhones Explore is a fantastic option. Our little ones gravitated immediately to the fun colors and small size, and found these headphones very comfy. Although the BuddyPhones Explore is less expensive than our top pick, it didn’t end up as our winner for a few reasons.

First, in our tests the sound quality was not nearly as good as that of the Puro. While not terrible, the BuddyPhones Explore sounded dull compared with the BT2200. This isn’t to say it’s unlistenable, but rather that you can really hear where the extra dollars went into the Puro model’s sound design.

Second, the Onanoff set is way too small for kids older than 5. Our big kids immediately rejected this pair as too tight for their heads. The BuddyPhone Explore isn’t a design that will grow with your child.

Our runner-up for little kids. Photo: Michael Hession

Our runner-up for little kids. Photo: Michael Hession

Our runner-up for little kids. Photo: Michael Hession

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The cable is removable, so if your kid snags it on something while tearing around the house, it will disconnect rather than break. Although made of plastic, the BuddyPhones Explore is pretty durable: We put these headphones through some torque and step tests, and they survived.

The set comes with a small fabric carrying case, plus some fun decals to personalize the sides. On top of that, the folding version collapses small enough that it’ll easily pack in a day bag or a preschooler-sized backpack. And of course, according to our testing the BuddyPhones Explore fell within safer volume limits (82.1 dBA pink noise/88.6 dBA music Leq).

Overall, if you want only a corded pair for your child, or you need something a bit more budget friendly and don’t mind that the headphones will last only a year or two before your child grows out of them, the Onanoff BuddyPhones Explore is a wonderful choice.

A runner-up for big kids: JLab JBuddies Studio

Photo: Michael Hession

Runner-up

Big kids in our tests liked the soft padding, simple design, fabric-wrapped cable, and in-line remote/mic. But this pair doesn’t sound as good as our top pick, and it also uses passive volume limiting, which isn’t as safe as Bluetooth.

Buying Options

If you are looking to spend a bit less money and want a corded pair of headphones for your 5- to 11-year-old, we recommend the JLab JBuddies Studio. Too big for our little panelists due to a looser and more flexible headband, the JBuddies Studio was the favorite of our 11-year-old twins, Kyra and Ally.

With a fabric-wrapped cord and soft earpads, the JBuddies Studio has a more adult look than some of the other competitors, and according to our 4- to 11-year-old panelists, this was a solid check in the “pros” column. This model also has a single-button in-line remote and mic that can change tracks, play/pause music, and answer calls. The JBuddies Studio is durable and carries a lifetime warranty from JLab. According to our testing, volume levels were within safer limits (80.9 dBA pink noise /87.5 dBA music Leq), and because the cable is permanently attached, savvy older kids have no way to thwart the volume reduction, either.

Our runner-up for big kids. Photo: Michael Hession

Our runner-up for big kids. Photo: Michael Hession

Our runner-up for big kids. Photo: Michael Hession

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However, in our tests this model’s sound quality wasn’t up to par compared with our main pick. Coarse and a little blaring, the JBuddies Studio’s sonic profile isn’t something that budding audiophiles will adore. All of our panelists said they would rather have our top pick if given a choice between the two. Additionally, with the move by many smartphone manufacturers to ditch the headphone jack, the JBuddies Studio may end up requiring an adapter to function with the newer technology that older kids are sure to covet in the future. We should mention that the JBuddies Studio is also available in a Bluetooth version, but that wireless edition doesn’t work corded. This could be a problem if your kids need their headphones for school use, or if they forget to charge their headphones.

That said, if you are looking for a knockaround pair of headphones for your elementary-aged child, the JLab JBuddies Studio is a solid buy that will help to protect their hearing, and it’s a set that they’ll be happy to wear.

The competition

Ranked by pink noise dBA volume levels (with the results of our Leq testing with music alongside), the following chart lays out the measurements of every model of headphones we tested for this guide, as well as some brief comments on why they did or didn’t end up among our top picks.

Too big for the 3-year-olds, but the older kids loved the cushy earpads and sound. Note: Larger/older noggins (12 years and up) may find this model too snug. The lifetime warranty is also a nice feature.

The only “lice-proof and water-resistant” headphones, these were too big for our little ones, and our bigger kids weren’t huge fans of the foam on the headband. But they do sound good, and might be a good school-issue option.

We thought the kids on our panel would be swayed by characters. We were wrong: The little ones ripped these right off, and the big kids were way too savvy. “Uncomfortable, plastic, cheap.” The adults were schooled.

Though parents liked the cute designs, our kid testers weren’t as impressed. But if your lil’ one likes the look, the designs are soft and safe, and the headphones measured within safer ranges on our tests.

One of the earpads fell off right out of the box, and we couldn’t get it back on. Then the headband snapped during measurement. If cautious adults could break this pair, it would stand no chance against kids. Total fail.

This set went over the recommended volume limits in our tests. Interestingly, LilGadgets designed it to limit at 93 dB, claiming that noise isolation helps protect hearing. But we found the isolation to be minimal.

A dial inside the earcup allows parents to set the volume limit, but it offers no guidance on the settings. We’d rather not have to guess on what is safe. We took this measurement at the highest dial setting.

With the included cord, this pair did even worse on our volume-limit testing.

Our icons are in reference to the pink noise max volume measurements as follows:

✅: <80 dB, safest for over eight hours of listening;

?: 80–87.9, dB safe for eight hours or less;

⚠️: 88.0–100 dB, use caution (use for one hour or less);

❌: 100+ dB, unsafe (use for 15 minutes or less).

While these icons are handy for quick reference, it’s important to note:

Leq is variable, as opposed to pink noise, which plays at a fixed level. However, in our testing many headphones reached higher levels when playing music. So it’s important to note the variation between the two numbers and use caution accordingly.

*After we reached out to the company for comment, Kidz Gear altered the claims on its website about its wireless headphones, changing the language from “the safest listening experience possible” to “the best and most importantly enjoyable listening experience possible.” However, as of this writing, the company still refers to its wired headphones as the “safest.”

Managing your child’s listening

As with all things related to raising a kid, the bottom line is this: Supervision adds to safety. But it’s challenging, what with the millions of other things to worry about. So here are a few additional steps you can take to protect your kids when you aren’t right next to them.

Set volume limits on their devices

While you can’t control every device with which your child comes into contact (hence why volume-limiting headphones are useful), you can reduce the output on their main devices.

Here’s how on an Apple device:

Go to Settings. Scroll down, and tap Music.

Next, tap Volume Limit. You’ll see a slider. As we mentioned earlier, the WHO recommends roughly 60 percent volume for 60 minutes as a guideline for media consumption with headphones. If your child will be using standard, non-volume-reducing headphones, pull this slider down to about 60 percent.

Tap the back arrows at the top left to return to the Settings menu.

Now that you’re once again in the Settings menu, you need to make sure that your tech-savvy kid won’t be able to change the limits back. So you need to password-protect your Settings menu.

Still in the Settings menu, tap General, scroll about halfway down to Restrictions, and tap it.

Tap Enable Restrictions and choose a four-digit passcode. (Don’t forget this number! Maybe save it in a password manager.)

Now scroll all the way down to near the bottom where it says Volume Limit, and tap.

Select Don’t Allow Changes, and then tap back on the top left.

You’re done!

Android devices and Kindles are a little trickier. You can find some third-party apps for purchase, but the reviews are dodgy, and we don’t have a specific recommendation at the moment.

Monitor usage

As we discussed earlier, it’s not just the volume but also the duration of noise exposure that matters. Even at safer volume levels, that time can go by quickly. Consider that music isn’t the only stuff kids have on their devices. Movies, TV shows, YouTube—if the volume veers even 5 dB over the recommended 85 dB limit to 90 dB, the WHO’s suggested total daily listening time drops to 2 hours, 30 minutes. That’s only a movie and a TV show.

Fortunately, you have a lot of parental controls that can track the time your child spends on a device. Whether you use built-in controls such as those on the Kindle Fire Kids Edition or a monitoring device or service like Circle or Kidslox, a time limit is a great way to give your kid’s ears a break. We don’t have a guide devoted to such systems just yet, so we can’t make a specific recommendation, but we do plan to tackle them in the future. Of course, for little ones at home, you can go old-school and just set an egg timer.

Whatever methods you choose, with a one-two punch of volume limiting and time limits on headphones use, you’re well ahead of the game.